Substitute charged with public indecency in Stamford school

Staff Reports

Updated 10:46 pm, Wednesday, February 26, 2014

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Michael Luecke, 72, is charged with public indecency, breach of peace and risk of injury to a minor after he was allegedly found masturbating in the hallway at Westhill High School where he was serving as a substitute teacher.

Michael Luecke, 72, is charged with public indecency, breach of peace and risk of injury to a minor after he was allegedly found masturbating in the hallway at Westhill High School where he was serving as a

A 72-year-old substitute teacher at Westhill High School was put on suicide watch after he was allegedly caught masturbating in a school hallway while looking at schoolchildren Wednesday morning shortly after the school day began.

According to police, around 7:33 a.m. Michael Luecke was spotted lying on the floor by a teacher's assistant who thought he was injured. When she got closer, she realized the man had his hand in his pants and he was fully aroused, police said.

The assistant then yelled at Luecke and notified school officials. Luecke ran off at that point, police said.

School Principal Camille Figluizzi said she called police and turned over video surveillance of the incident.

According to a bankruptcy filing from April 2013, Luecke, a former biotechnology consultant, was employed by both Stamford and Greenwich school districts as a substitute teacher.

Figluizzi said class was in session at the time, and the students who passed by Luecke's location in the Raynor house of the building did not seem to notice the incident.

According to police, six students passed the location while Luecke was masturbating. Police said they are in the process of identifying the students to determine if there's a need for counseling.

A press release by Lt. Diedrich Hohn said video surveillance tape was recovered showing Luecke in a corner of a stairwell in the Raynor building at 7:30 a.m. suspiciously manipulating the front of his pants while looking at students in the courtyard.

Once he was identified, Luecke was found in the classroom he was overseeing, and removed, police said. He was brought to the main office and detained by school resource officers.

Luecke, of 44 Strawberry Hill Ave., Stamford, was later charged with public indecency, second-degree breach of peace and risk of injury to a minor. He was held on $25,000 bond. Because he was placed on suicide watch, his clothing was taken from him and his police photograph shows him dressed in a suicide smock.

One person tweeted from the school that the man was spotted by several people masturbating in the hallway of the school.

Luecke was dismissed immediately on Wednesday, Figluizzi said. Greenwich school officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

Figluizzi said there were no problems with Luecke in the past, but she also couldn't say he was at Westhill regularly.

Substitutes are dispatched by the central district to the schools and are not hired by Westhill.

The school district did not confirm the Luecke's name, but did say he had been employed as a high school substitute since 2009.

Beadle said substitutes fill out an application and go through an interview and screening process that includes a background check and fingerprinting by the police department.